Carolyn Hughes
Carolyn Hughes helps the Foellinger Foundation chart its course by contributing strategic thinking and financial oversight. She chairs the Audit Committee and serves on the Investment and Finance Committee. She joined the board at a time when it was undergoing a Strategic Planning process to provide direction for grantmaking for generations to come. A part of that process is to assure that the Foundation adheres to the intent of the founders. Carolyn provides vital insights, informed by her experience as an executive at Fort Wayne Newspapers, immersed in the culture that Helene Foellinger had influenced as publisher of The News-Sentinel. “A lot of the emphasis on evaluation and measurement gets back to Helene’s core values,” Carolyn said. “She was known for prudent decisions.”

In addition to a strategic outlook, Carolyn brings a keen financial acumen to the boardroom. Trained as an accountant (and as a chemist), she had been CFO of Fort Wayne Newspapers before becoming the company's vice president of sales and marketing until her retirement.

Her tenure with the board coincides with an ever-growing emphasis on helping grantees establish outcomes and evaluate them in a meaningful way (see story, Page 1). “We’re looking for value, not just numbers. We seek to answer the fundamental questions: ‘Is it sustainable? Is it transferable? What difference will it make?’” she said. “We’re willing to take some prudent risks and evaluate the results. And we try to share the lessons learned with the nonprofit community.”

Focusing on outcomes and measurements in grantmaking provides the data needed for the Foundation to measure itself. “That’s the only way we can assess whether we’re having an impact.”

Carolyn combines her financial and strategic skills with an extraordinary sense of empathy for people in need. She takes great pride in her role in the Foundation's focus on building upon people's strengths and focusing on children and families with programs designed to help them move from dependence to greater self-reliance.

Barbara Burt
Look up the word "governance" and you'll see circular definitions like this: "The act, process, or power of governing; government." Not much help.

Essentially, governance means the exercise of authority. In some cases, like the federal government, the structure is clearly defined. In the nonprofit foundation world, however, there's no similar legal system for establishing the form of governance. Boards have wide latitude to decide how they'll operate, the scope of their duties, their tenure, the size of the board itself, and the procedures for electing new members.

Essentially this means the board is accountable to … the board.

As Board Chairman of the Foellinger Foundation, Barbara Burt has been at the center of the Foundation's efforts to create an accountable, effective structure for governing its grantmaking and investment activities — and its efforts to assure that the intent of the donors is embedded in the Foundation's governing structure for future generations. For example, the Foundation formed a Founders Interests Committee made up of people who knew Helene Foellinger personally; this group documented their personal knowledge of the Foellinger family philosophy to help drive Foundation activities for future generations.
Burt joined the Foellinger Foundation board in 1989 and served as president and treasurer of the Foundation from 1995 to 2001. Before that, she was executive director of what is now the Community Foundation of Greater Fort Wayne.

Her roots go even deeper. She's been board president of Junior League of Fort Wayne, Martin Luther King Montessori School, United Way of Allen County and Quest Club. She is a former board chair of the Indiana Grantmakers Alliance and she still serves on its board. There's no substitute for such experience.

"A good governance structure provides systematic checks and balances and makes good stewardship an institutional practice —
a system that is transparent and inspires confidence," Burt said. "When the board essentially is governing itself, the governance structure should serve as the ultimate source of authority, above and beyond the individuals serving on the board at any given moment."

Mary F. Barksdale
"I believe we need to practice what we preach," says Foellinger Foundation Board Member Mary F. Barksdale.

The Foundation puts a lot of emphasis on board development in its grantmaking and in workshops that it offers to grantees. "So as a Foundation we need to implement the Best Practices that we encourage among grantees," Mrs. Barksdale says.

Mrs. Barksdale has been a community volunteer and trustee for more than a quarter century, with experience on the boards of very large institutions including hospitals and public schools. She served on a key community committee focused on civic responsibility with Foundation co-founder Helene Foellinger. A retired human resources executive with a large international manufacturing company, Mrs. Barksdale joined the Foellinger Foundation Board in 1997 after serving on one of its committees.

"At the time, the Foundation was seeking a person with human resources experience to support both its board and staff development goals," Mrs. Barksdale says. Today she is Chairman of the Board Development Committee. Her contributions to board governance include:
• Developing position descriptions for officers, committee chairmen, board members and the CEO.
• Surveying the board's strengths and weaknesses.
• Creating a formal board orientation program.
• Updating and revising a conflict-of-interest statement.
• Implementing a board affirmation statement to enlist clear commitments from current and prospective board members.
• Conducted research for the “Best Practices” of successful boards.
• Developed Board Member Profile.
• Developed policy for term limits of board members.

"Collectively, I'm happy with the results; steps like these have added structure to make the board more process oriented."
Mrs. Barksdale says her time working with Helene Foellinger on a civic committee keeps her grounded in the wishes of the Foundation's co-founder. Her leadership helps the Foundation maintain its focus on the donors' principles and values of stewardship.

David A. Bobilya
Like many nonprofit board leaders, David A. Bobilya learned his skills "on the job" with a local nonprofit agency. A lot of board members don't know what they're getting into, and he admits that at first he was unsure of his role, too. He observed his peers and followed the lead of more senior members. "Fortunately in my case it was an extremely well-run organization. They had the 'right stuff.'"

The "right stuff" is different from the "good stuff," which you can get only at Pizza Hut. In his "civilian" life Dave serves as Executive Vice President and CFO of Pizza Hut of Fort Wayne. The company operates 45 Pizza Huts and three KFC restaurants.
Today, Dave puts his personal nonprofit board experience to work on behalf of the entire community as a member of the Foellinger Foundation board. He joined the Foundation's Investment and Finance Committee three years ago, and in 2005 became a member of the board of directors. He is now Treasurer and Chairman of the Investment and Finance Committee — both posts previously held by Carl D. Rolfsen, who retired at the end of last year. "I feel fortunate to have worked closely with Carl, who shared the benefit of his 25 years of experience with the Foundation," Dave says.

Dave recently attended a workshop where it was observed that the most effective organizations are those with highly active boards. "I thought to myself, 'no kidding.'" And yet many boards fail to achieve their full potential. Dave said he is proud of the Foundation's efforts to be a part of the remedy to that problem.

"The Foundation helps boards become stronger and more effective and accountable," Dave said. For example, "By providing funds for professional development, the Foundation helps to strengthen organizations by strengthening the people within them."
He said one of the Foundation's challenges is to be accountable to Helene and Esther Foellinger by encouraging accountability among grantees, without becoming rigid or bureaucratic. "Some folks feel that the Foundation is a tough place to go for a grant because of our emphasis on measuring and reporting results. Our board and staff take their concerns to heart, and we're always working to find the right balance," Dave said.

The balance, he explained, is to meet today's need but also preserve the Foundation's resources so it can continue to meet needs well into the future. The outcome evaluations, progress reports and other tools are just that, Dave says — tools to meet a bigger objective. "At the end of the day, our job is to use the Foundation's assets to make life better for children and families in Allen County."

Judge Thomas J. Felts
Judge Thomas J. Felts, a lifelong Allen County resident, is a familiar face to hundreds of local residents. Felts has devoted his life to making our community a better place to live. A graduate of Catholic Central High School, The University of Notre Dame and Indiana University School of Law, his Hoosier credentials run deep.

He serves on the Foundation's Board Development Committee and on the Audit Committee. The board development team is in charge of recruiting, orienting and retaining a cohesive, effective board that continues to grow in new directions. The audit team reviews the annual audit conducted by outside CPAs. "We want to see if there are any areas identified for improvement," he said.
In the courtroom, Felts is guided by the law. In the Foellinger Boardroom, the board is driven to adhere to the intentions of the Foundation's donors, Helene and Esther Foellinger.

During a lengthy Strategic Planning process a few years ago — a time that Felts refers to as "a period of introspection" for the Foundation — the board documented the intentions of the founders to guide the current board and generations of board members to come.

"A legal professional can appreciate this guidance regarding donor intent, because when decisions come up, we can determine whether the our actions match up with donor intent or not," he said.
"In the courtroom we have the standard of law; in the Foellinger Boardroom we have the additional standard of donor intent. We can ask, 'Is this consistent with the intentions and expectations of Helene and Esther Foellinger, as documented in the Strategic Plan?' It's very useful."

Felts is active outside the courtroom and the boardroom, too. He is president-elect of the Indiana Judges Association, and will become president in mid-2007. He's also an avid runner — and that's putting it mildly. He recently completed his 11th marathon. He runs 25 to 45 miles a week. After he catches his breath, he also enjoys singing as a liturgist and cantor in local churches. With his musical partners, he has recorded CDs of contemporary Christian and Catholic music.
Felts and his wife, Kay, have three adult children: Erik, John and David. "We're very recent empty-nesters," he says.

Cheryl Taylor
About once a year, Foellinger Foundation President Cheryl Taylor spends some time poking around in the foundation's archives of Helene Foellinger's letters, pictures, business documents, newspaper clippings and the memorabilia that marked the milestones in Helene's life. Helene Foellinger created the Foundation along with her mother, Esther.

"Helene was an extraordinary woman, and every time I look at the archive, it renews my sense of purpose," said Taylor. "For the people making decisions on her behalf, now two decades after her death, it's a great asset to have this collection. It gives us a real sense of the people whose gift we administer."

Today, Taylor is President of the Foundation and a member of its board of directors. "My role is to provide leadership to the board," Taylor said, "helping to focus on governance responsibilities. For the rest of the board to focus on the big picture, someone needs to give them the big picture, and that's part of my role."

Taylor serves on the Executive Committee and on the Investment and Finance Committee. She also provides staff support for the Board Development Committee.

Like any executive, many of her days are filled with meetings, paperwork, strategy development, and administration. From time to time, though, she is able to witness firsthand the effects of Foellinger Foundation support on the lives of local residents. Those are the moments she'll remember forever, she says.

"The Foundation realizes that we as an organization don't directly do anything to make lives better; what we do is support the nonprofits that make these good things happen. We seek to strengthen those nonprofit agencies that can make a difference in people's lives."

Taylor said that she and other Board members are thankful for a staff that consists of "good thinkers with a creative understanding of the mission and of our founders' intentions."

Taylor has been with the Foundation since 1990, beginning as Program Officer and advancing to Senior Program Officer. In 2000, she was instrumental in the Foundation's development of a comprehensive Strategic Plan. She became President in 2001 and joined the Board in 2002.

"Helene and Esther gave Allen County an extraordinary gift. They placed complete trust in the Foundation’s current and future Boards to oversee that gift," Taylor said. "I think about that every day, and when I see the great things local nonprofits are doing with the funds I know that this is what the Foellingers envisioned."

Richard Pierce
Richard Pierce loves woodworking — making furniture and doll houses. He loves to see things take shape through painstaking planning and hands-on attention to detail.

Those are the same qualities he brings to the Foellinger Foundation boardroom, where he has been a board member since 2001. He joined the board after first serving on a committee tasked with studying Allen County's neighborhood issues. Pierce has a long history of community involvement, as a former neighborhood association president, a board member of nonprofits, and a former member of the Board of Zoning Appeals and the Plan Commission. He's also active in his church and teaches business and general education at Ivy Tech. That's all in addition to his "day job" as a counselor at Park Center.

Pierce is on the Foundation's Board Development Committee and is chair of the Community Interests Grant Review Advisory Committee, which includes Foundation President Cheryl Taylor and Board Chair Barbara Burt. The committee is made up of volunteers with diverse interests in improving life in Allen County. Pierce marvels at the community spirit exhibited by committee members. "Not one person that was asked to be on the committee said no," he said.

"The Foellinger Board works hard to get input from as many people as possible," Pierce says.
The Community Interests grant category represents a significant portion of the Foundation's annual grant payments — about $1 million per year (see related story in this issue).

It's clear that Pierce takes great pride in his role in shaping the grantmaking activity of the Foundation as a board member. He's also proud of his two sons and five grandchildren. In his spare time, he enjoys making furniture and other woodworking projects. The day he was interviewed for this article, he said he'd been working on a doll house.

"It's wonderful to start with nothing and see something beautiful develop as the result of your efforts."